Yesterday, the City inspected the facility and found evidence of animal neglect.

[…]

PETA spokeswoman Daphna Nachminovitch commented that PETA’s mission in this case is to ensure all animals receive necessary treatment[.]

December 17:

As of noon today, approximately 600 reptiles and 18,400 rodents have been identified and assessed by a team of veterinary experts, rat and reptile specialists, and animal cruelty investigation professionals. Willa Bagwell (Executive Director of Animal Friends of the Valleys) stated “we are continuing to inventory and evaluate the rodent population. The reptile counts have been confirmed and we continue to assess their situation as well.”

Upon entrance to the building, inspectors identified a dire situation. According to Willa Bagwell, “what we saw was horrific animal conditions involving thousands of dead animals in various states of decay as well as dying in their enclosures. In my 25 years of conducting animal control this is the most horrific case of animal cruelty, neglect, and suffering that I have encountered.”

December 19:

After careful analysis, a team […] determined […] euthanasia was the safest and most humane option[.]

Willa Bagwell said, […] “We are thankful […] to PETA and Marin Humane Society for providing us with the resources needed for this operation.”

Approximately 19,000 animals, most of them rodents, were killed. Not one living creature was saved. Not one mouse. Not one baby rat. Not one snake. This is PETA’s mission – to administer their version of “necessary treatment” to animals. And they provide the resources.

No charges have been filed in connection with the case as far as I know.

A man who helped kill a Burmese python in front of journalists at a Hallandale Beach processing plant broke the rules governing the hunting of the non-native snakes in the Everglades, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Josh Zarmati, a Miami snake breeder, was one of several licensed snake dealers allowed by the state to kill pythons in the Everglades. But under the rules, he was required to either kill the python where it was found or bring it to a veterinarian or research facility, said Scott Hardin, the agency’s exotic species coordinator.

Instead, Zarmati brought two pythons last week to All American Gator in Hallandale Beach and held one down while the company’s president, Brian Wood, whacked off its head with a hatchet. The top four inches of the snake continued to writhe, the mouth opening and closing, until Wood smashed it several times with the hatchet’s blunt end. An account appeared in Wednesday’s Sun-Sentinel.

Mr. Zarmati mentions that killing the snakes in front of news photographers is taboo for fear of reaction from extremist groups like PETA. But ironically, PETA seems to defend Zarmati and Wood’s actions and in fact, illustrates that PETA is not only an expert on killing dogs and cats – it knows how to kill pythons too:

Stephanie Bell, cruelty case manager for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, said the most humane method is lethal injection, but if that is impractical in the field it is best to first stun the snake and then decapitate it or to decapitate it and immediately pithe it, that is, scramble its brain with a metal tool.

She said Wood did the right thing by whacking it on the head to put it out of its misery.

File under New Things I Learned Today and Things I Could Live Without Knowing

The state of Florida is apparently at the end of its rope in terms of how to deal with the python population explosion in the Everglades:

Local authorities tried all kinds of population control. They captured females, implanted them with the snake equivalent of LoJacks, then released into the wild—tracking them to their love lairs, in hope of snagging the lurking lotharios. There was a brief attempt to train a beagle named Python Pete to track the snakes. Sen. Bill Nelson, the Florida Democrat, has introduced federal legislation to ban the importation of nine big snakes into the country, including the Burmese Python. And the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission tried government regulation—imposing licensing requirements limiting the sale of pythons and other scaley nuisances. Authorities say there are only 137 licenses statewide—a figure that grossly undercounts the number of snakes in homes. There’s even a yearly amnesty day, when owners of illegal or unlicensed exotics can turn in their pets—no questions asked. In its fifth year, a few dozen pythons, measuring three to 10 feet, have been handed over.

There are an estimated 30,000 pythons roaming around southern FL. Last year, the state gave out 19 licenses to hunt pythons but that didn’t make a dent in the population. (They thought it would?). This year, it’s open season:

On March 6, they’re declaring open season on the giant pythons, opening up 736,000 prime snake-hunting acres to any Floridian with a hunting license. People from as far away as Australia want in on the action. For six weeks, an expected crowd of hundreds will get to take their best shot at bagging the beasts.